Think thrice before opening an account with ICICIDirect!! You must remember all your passwords or you may land up in a cage!!


·       I want to close my bank account with ICICI bank
·       I need to personally approach the clerk at the branch which I need with a request
·       My debit card and cheque book is promptly destroyed by the bank clerk, to close the account
·       He realizes that my bank account is linked to my demat account with them. So to close my bank account, I must close the demat account first. I promptly get the form to close the demat account
·       They see some stocks in my demat account which I must either sell or transfer before closing it
·       I request them to transfer it to another demat account I have with them jointly with my wife.
·       They can’t do that because the origin account is in my name while the destination account is a joint account, though I am the first holder in both accounts and I am standing in front of them requesting the transfer. This means I can’t transfer my own shares from one account to another in spite of requesting them in person with all the required verification! They claim this is as per guidelines from SEBI (Indian market regulator).
·       I request them to transfer the shares to another demat account I have with CDSL (another depository service provider) through another DP. They can’t do it with a simple transfer instruction and need inter-depository-transfer (IDT) form to be filled. I request them for it. I need to fill a separate form for requesting it. I do that. I’ll receive it after 7 working days!
·       Meanwhile, another option is to sell the shares online on icicidirect.com. I forgot my password. I can generate it using the internet banking password as my bank account is linked to the demat account. I forgot that password too. I can generate it using the grid behind my debit card for the bank account that is promptly destroyed by the clerk above. Another option is to generate a grid by providing some information online. I have an old grid generated with me that is password protected for security reasons. Opens with my first name and date of birth (Thank God .. I remember both!).
·       I enter both these to see the grid. I enter right numbers from the grid in the blanks provided on the form to see a message that the URN will be sent to my registered email address. I wait for a few minutes and try again to see a message that ‘Online password generation is disabled for this account’
·       I call customer support. She provides me all the options mentioned above and finally proposes to send me a new password by courier that will be delivered in 7 working days! :-)
·       I am waiting after 3 trips to the bank branch and the original request still pending!! J

How unlucky can I get with this?

I made following 3 mistakes in the entire process.

·       Opened an account with ICICI Direct that compulsorily requires a ICICI bank account to be linked for trading on the platform. How foolish of me!
·       Felt the need to close it. How foolish!
·       Forgot the password for the trading account as well as the bank account. What a fool I am!

Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

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